A Reflection in Sylvia Plaths Mirror - 1013 Words

A Reflection in Sylvia Plath’s Mirror Amanda L. Wilson Eng:125 Introduction to Literature Professor Lyndsey Lefebvre November 18, 2013 A Reflection in Sylvia Plath’s Mirror Sylvia Plath’s poem Mirror (1963) is evocative, provocative, and expressive. According to Clugston (2010) these are important components of poetry. Sylvia Plath’s first line is a projection of the mirror providing its introduction saying, â€Å"I am silver and exact†(Plath, 1963, line 1). The mirror is the protagonist who performs a dramatic monologue about the reflections it observes throughout the days and years of its life. The mirror’s identity awakens the reader to the identity of the woman which it sees, but the mirror not only sees the woman, it becomes†¦show more content†¦Freedman (1987) writes, â€Å"Both swallow immediately what they see and make it not merely theirs, but them. â€Å"Mirror,† in other words, by failing to be a mirror, becomes a mirror of metaphor, a precise reflection of what by definition does not precisely reflect† (1987, page 61). The above mentioned el ements including figurative language, personification and metaphor affected my response to the poem. The figurative language made it difficult to understand, and the metaphor and personification seemed to contradict one another even more, making it difficult to understand. The personification of the mirror made me focus on the judgment being passed on the woman in the mirror. This element also brings me back to the first paragraph of the poem saying â€Å"I am not cruel, only truthful† (Plath, 1963). The poem is, in my opinion, depressing. It shows the woman’s struggle with reality, denial, and self acceptance. In summation, Sylvia Plath’s â€Å"Mirror† takes its reader down a path of figurative language, identified by the mirror’s introduction. The work is written in a free flowing verse with no rhyme or rhythm easily discernible to the reader. Plath utilizes personification of an inanimate object being the subject, as well as, metaphors. Analysis of Plath’s â€Å"Mirror† is that the mirror itself is in denial. The metaphoric lake, being the mirror, does not merely reflect that which it sees, but is personified because it inevitably has to have a memory in order toShow MoreRelatedPoetry Explication of Sylvia Plath’s â€Å"Mirror†949 Words   |  4 PagesPoetry Explication of Sylvia Plath’s â€Å"Mirror† The first thing one can notice in Sylvia Plath’s poem â€Å"Mirror† (rpt. In Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrine’s Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 9th ed. [Boston: Wadsworth, 2006] 680) is that the speaker in the poem is the mirror and the woman in the poem is Sylvia Plath. As you read through the poem, the lake is relevant because of the famous mythological story of narcissus. He was extremely beautiful and one day while drinking from a lakeRead MoreEssay Sylvia Plaths Mirror810 Words   |  4 PagesSylvia Plaths Mirror Sylvia Plaths Mirror offers a unique perspective on the attitudes of aging. Mirror displays tremendous insight and objectivity into the natural human behavior of growing older. Plath is able to emphasize the loneliness, hope, despair, and insecurity that awaits us through mankinds incessant addiction with reflection. Mirror expresses the problems associated with aging through terse comparisons between reality and desire. PlathesRead MoreAnalysis of Sylvia Plaths Mirror1281 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Analysis of Sylvia Plath’s â€Å"Mirror† Sylvia Plath is known as the poet of confession. 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Throughout Sylvia Plath’s lifetime, she suffered mentally since she was a littleRead MoreThe Figures Displayed in Sylvia Plaths Mirror887 Words   |  4 PagesThe Figures Displayed in Sylvia Plaths Mirror The speaker in Sylvia Plaths poem Mirror is the actual mirror itself, which has been owned by a now old woman (16) for quite some time. This woman has looked into her mirror every day for many years now. The mirror is very aware of her presence and its environment when she is not present. The author provides many details in order for the reader to grasp the mirrors view on its ever-day sights, but this would be an impossible task without theRead MoreThe Life Of Sylvia Path1212 Words   |  5 Pages Born and raised in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, she tolerated an unpleasant and depressing childhood. Sylvia Path was born on October 27,1932 to Aurelia Schobert Plath and Otto Emile Plath. Her father was an author and professor, who taught at Boston University. There was a significant age difference between Plath’s parents; her mother was twenty-one years younger to her father. â€Å"The couple met when her mother was attaining Master’s Degree in teaching and opted one of his father’s course†. â€Å"TheRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of Sylvia Plaths Mirror1075 Words   |  5 Pagesmonologues in movies. Poetry depicts the emotions nobody dares to talk about in public and shows how much a situations can impact you. These events create emotions into art. Sylvia Plath’s story and motive to write poems begins around the same time her father passes, an event that will impact her poetry deeply. A little after Plath’s eighth birthday her father dies from a case of diabetes that he ignores to treat. Plath published one of her first poems at the early age of eight in the children’s sectionRead MoreMirror by Sylvia Plath817 Words   |  3 PagesSylvia Plaths poem, Mirror,† represents the disturbed self of the woman, The mirror signifies the unsympathetic male view of a woman and what is socially expected of her: having a flawless beauty and perpetual youth. As the persona ages over the years, the mirror maliciously reflects the alterations in her appearance. Age becomes the persona’s flaw and inadequacy and consequently her foundation of anxiety and alarm. The mirror projects what is thought of the woman as she grows older. It claimsRead More Truth, Illusion, and Examination in Sylvia Plaths The Mirror656 Words   |  3 PagesIllusion, and Examination in Sylvia Plaths The Mirror  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Who would be so pretentious as to suggest that they were silver and exact, and that they have no preconceptions? Poet Sylvia Plath dares to meditate on the opposite wall in her poem The Mirror to reveal to her reader some of her own insecurities, the theme of this, and several other of her poems. The poet does some introspective exploration in both stanzas; the two carefully intended to mirror each other. It is her useRead More##xiety In Courage, Gwendolyn BrooksThe Explorer, And Frederick Douglass732 Words   |  3 Pagesor does it? In these four poems, there is a strong sense of social anxiety, and then the overcoming of that with courage. In Sylvia Plaths Mirror, Anne Sexton’s Courage, Gwendolyn Brooks’ The Explorer, and Robert Hayden’s Frederick Douglass there is a strongly shared theme. To start off is the theme of social anxiety in Sylvia Plath’s Mirror. This poem is about a mirror that spends most of it’s days reflecting the wall, but occasionally, it is the friend of a man or woman. One day, a woman comes